4 ms·

Anecdote: Because of a months-long labor shortage and being unable to staff operations even after multiple temp agencies were engaged, an employer somewhere in

Anecdote: Because of a months-long labor shortage and being unable to staff operations even after multiple temp agencies were engaged, an employer somewhere in the universe raised wages to a floor of 15 per hour this past month. It used to start at minimum wage, then went to 8 in 2014, now here. Everyone who was getting +1,2,3 dollars over that got bumped porportionally, so if you were at 15, you now got 17, if you were at 22 (only things like paramedics) you were at 25 etc. Why? Amazon has a warehouse nearby. We've bled staff to them for years.

andagainagain 5y ago
A local union factory relatively recently started hiring like crazy a few years back. Their wages were higher than every other job in the area, and the same thing happened. Within a year a job that WAS offering $10.50 and saying that they were generous started offering #$12... then $13.50... then $14. Now they're also offering a few hundred dollar bonus as well.
- nitrogen 5y ago
  Has there been any effect on downstream prices of the goods and services offered by those companies, or has it all been pure gain for the workers?
- CapitalistCartr 5y ago
  Making it obvious they could have afforded that before.
  - minitoar 5y ago
    I don’t understand this argument. I could afford to pay more for most services but I don’t unless I have to.
    - Sebguer 5y ago
      Are you a company? You are an individual and paying for things comes from the money that you earned with your own labor. A company's money comes purely from extracting value from its workers. It then tries to return as little value as possible to the people who created that value, in order to reward its owners.
      - missedthecue 5y ago
        "A company's money comes purely from extracting value from its workers" This is really hard to believe because it's pretty observable that labor isn't the only input to production. If that was truly the case, why would anyone work for a company? Why not go work for yourself and skip the middle man? The truth is because production not only needs labor, but it needs capital, land, and entrepreneurship as well. Labor is only one component, and a decreasing one relative to years gone by. (For instance, the US auto manufacturers make more cars now then ever with fewer employees tham ever)
    - sangnoir 5y ago
      > I don’t understand this argument. It counters a common argument against minimum wage increases. The argument goes "Small businesses can't afford raises. If they are forced to pay their employees more, they will go bankrupt, leading to unemployment, and low wages are better than unemployment, so you shouldn't raise the minimum wage"
      - minitoar 5y ago
        Makes sense. I feel like both of these arguments are oversimplifications.
eloff 5y ago
I'm surprised paramedics would only make $22/hour. Estheticians and hair stylists make more than that (including tips) at a senior level.
- throwaway0a5e 5y ago
  It's a gatekeeping job for a lot of medical stuff. Also if you're looking to become a firefighter or cop it's a very nice thing to already have on your resume. Basically people put up with it because it's usually a stepping stone toward a job where you can print easy money.
  - paulcole 5y ago
    What job (where you can print easy money) does experience working as a paramedic directly qualify you for?
    - throwaway0a5e 5y ago
      Working as an EMT counts as "clinical experience" some amount of which is required or "encouraged but practically speaking required unless you know someone who can pull strings for you" for med school admission.
    - sundaeofshock 5y ago
      Physician Associate. To apply for PA school, one must have health care work experience. https://www.aapa.org/career-central/become-a-pa/ https://www.aapa.org/career-central/become-a-pa/
      - AuryGlenz 5y ago
        There sure are a lot of roadblocks in our country to having enough medical professionals to keep wages from going down.
        influx 5y ago
lucian1900 5y ago
A minor nitpick, it’s not so much a labour shortage as a wage shortage. Clearly the workers are there, shown clearly by them taking jobs when paid better.
- lotsofpulp 5y ago
  A useful definition of labor shortage would be when there exists no one(s) that can perform a certain task in a certain area, such as not having a specific type of doctor in a rural setting. The learning curve for warehouse work is very low, so if you cannot find someone that can do it, you are either in a geriatric community or you are not offering attractive wages (so wage shortage is more accurate than labor shortage). Although wage shortages can lead to labor shortages years down for tasks that have high learning curves.
  - everybodyknows 5y ago
    >you are not offering attractive wages IOW, not competitive in a free market in labor. Employers who talk about free markets have less enthusiasm when it hits the expense side of their P&L.

andagainagain 5y ago

A local union factory relatively recently started hiring like crazy a few years back. Their wages were higher than every other job in the area, and the same thing happened. Within a year a job that WAS offering $10.50 and saying that they were generous started offering #$12... then $13.50... then $14. Now they're also offering a few hundred dollar bonus as well.

nitrogen 5y ago
Has there been any effect on downstream prices of the goods and services offered by those companies, or has it all been pure gain for the workers?
CapitalistCartr 5y ago
Making it obvious they could have afforded that before.
- minitoar 5y ago
  I don’t understand this argument. I could afford to pay more for most services but I don’t unless I have to.
  - Sebguer 5y ago
    Are you a company? You are an individual and paying for things comes from the money that you earned with your own labor. A company's money comes purely from extracting value from its workers. It then tries to return as little value as possible to the people who created that value, in order to reward its owners.
    - missedthecue 5y ago
      "A company's money comes purely from extracting value from its workers" This is really hard to believe because it's pretty observable that labor isn't the only input to production. If that was truly the case, why would anyone work for a company? Why not go work for yourself and skip the middle man? The truth is because production not only needs labor, but it needs capital, land, and entrepreneurship as well. Labor is only one component, and a decreasing one relative to years gone by. (For instance, the US auto manufacturers make more cars now then ever with fewer employees tham ever)
  - sangnoir 5y ago
    > I don’t understand this argument. It counters a common argument against minimum wage increases. The argument goes "Small businesses can't afford raises. If they are forced to pay their employees more, they will go bankrupt, leading to unemployment, and low wages are better than unemployment, so you shouldn't raise the minimum wage"
    - minitoar 5y ago
      Makes sense. I feel like both of these arguments are oversimplifications.

eloff 5y ago

I'm surprised paramedics would only make $22/hour. Estheticians and hair stylists make more than that (including tips) at a senior level.

throwaway0a5e 5y ago
It's a gatekeeping job for a lot of medical stuff. Also if you're looking to become a firefighter or cop it's a very nice thing to already have on your resume. Basically people put up with it because it's usually a stepping stone toward a job where you can print easy money.
- paulcole 5y ago
  What job (where you can print easy money) does experience working as a paramedic directly qualify you for?
  - throwaway0a5e 5y ago
    Working as an EMT counts as "clinical experience" some amount of which is required or "encouraged but practically speaking required unless you know someone who can pull strings for you" for med school admission.
  - sundaeofshock 5y ago
    Physician Associate. To apply for PA school, one must have health care work experience. https://www.aapa.org/career-central/become-a-pa/ https://www.aapa.org/career-central/become-a-pa/
    - AuryGlenz 5y ago
      There sure are a lot of roadblocks in our country to having enough medical professionals to keep wages from going down.
      - influx 5y ago

lucian1900 5y ago

A minor nitpick, it’s not so much a labour shortage as a wage shortage. Clearly the workers are there, shown clearly by them taking jobs when paid better.

lotsofpulp 5y ago
A useful definition of labor shortage would be when there exists no one(s) that can perform a certain task in a certain area, such as not having a specific type of doctor in a rural setting. The learning curve for warehouse work is very low, so if you cannot find someone that can do it, you are either in a geriatric community or you are not offering attractive wages (so wage shortage is more accurate than labor shortage). Although wage shortages can lead to labor shortages years down for tasks that have high learning curves.
- everybodyknows 5y ago
  >you are not offering attractive wages IOW, not competitive in a free market in labor. Employers who talk about free markets have less enthusiasm when it hits the expense side of their P&L.